If you haven’t heard of The Polish Ambassador (TPA) yet, it’s time to change that. We discovered the ambassador last April when he made a quick stop at the Trocadero where we were instantly converted into diehard fans. We were even lucky enough to catch him and his visual artist Liminus this summer at Electric Forest at what many deemed the best set of the entire festival.
So when we heard that the world’s funkiest diplomat’s fall tour was making a pit stop in his home town of West Chester, we knew we had no other option except to make the trek there from downtown Philly, despite it being a Wednesday night (October 23rd).
As we had never ventured to The Note in West Chester, we had no idea what to expect. We arrived promptly a little before 8pm as Polish had tweeted the evening’s schedule earlier in the day: DJ Vadim would be opening at 8pm, Wildlight starting at 9pm, and the headliner taking the stage at 930pm. we weren’t willing to risk missing any moment of the night.
The night started off slow, but again it was a Wednesday. However, this didn’t impact DJ Vadim who was on stage dropping some fresh bass focused music with hip-hop and reggae influences. TPA had contacted DJ Vadim, who is normally based in the UK, via a Facebook message to accompany him on the ‘Funky in Your Onesie’ tour. At the end of his set, DJ Vadim took to the mic and informed us that he was about to play a song outlawed by the American government, but that due to the government shutdown, he felt comfortable hitting play – then his bass bumping “Terrorist” track overtook the
growing crowd.
Next up in the night was Wildlight, the TPA side project with the incredibly talented Ayla Nereo. Nereo and the ambassador have been working together for about a year, with their collaborations such as “Live Inside a Dream” and “Rise” first being debuted on the ambassadors ‘Ecozoic’ CD released in March of this year. The duo released their first collaborative CD this summer titled ‘Hers Was as Thunder’. Ayla took to the stage and her beautiful voice quickly captivated the crowd. The energy that Nereo and Polish have on stage is something special. As Nereo sings, Polish grooves beside her, handling the beats, and you can tell that the two of them love performing together. The Wildlight set finished up with Ayla performing an improvisational solo, which was absolutely magical.
Finally, it was time for the king of jumpsuits and the master of visual live art to take the stage. People had traveled from as far as Pittsburgh and Connecticut just to party with the ambassador in their onesies. At this point in the night, the Note was jam-packed with crazed fans, and as Polish and Liminus came out the crowd erupted with excitement. Polish and Liminus know how to get the crowd going. The two of them were on stage executing their signature dance moves to perfection. The visuals are all done live by Liminus and project the ambiance of the music visually, which is truly unique in a world of generic laser lights.
Polish played all of his fan favorites including his ‘No Diggity’remix and ‘New Funk Millennium’ just to name a few.As to be expected it was another epic Polish Ambassador show, laced with infectious beats and dreamy melodies. The crowd could not have had more fun and the overall energy of the night is what we could only wish every concert encompassed. In true TPA fashion, post-show the artists hopped off the stage and interacted with the fans.
According to Liminus, crowd participation and interactivity is instrumental in expanding and growing the TPA experiment. We cannot wait for the return of the Ambassador with Liminus and Wildlight, but in the mean time we will be downloading all of his music for FREE from his website (although TPA accepts donations for the music, which we think is well worth it to keep this experiment alive).
[Photos by Dan Drufovka. Article by Dan Drufovka & Jenny Lynch]
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You can view some additional photos in the gallery below (click thumbnails to enlarge):
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